There is a bushfire, quite literally, around the corner from my house. 5 minutes walk.

Coming back from the chemist we saw a pillar of smoke rising from one of the nature reserves near our house. We slowed down to call the fire brigade, and I realised I'd left my phone charging at home, thankfully the guy just ahead of us on the road pulled to a stop and let us know he'd called the fire brigade. We heard the sirens as we were arriving home a minute later.

Checking the fire map, we thought we'd found the current fire, then I realised we were looking at the wrong nature reserve. Just an hour previous there had been a fire at the nature reserve behind our house.

These fires had to be set deliberately. It wasn't hot today, and the sun was already setting when the fires started. They were very likely set by the same person... At least I hope so - if not that means there's more than one homicidal psychopath running around Frankston lighting fires.

WHO THE FUCK DOES THESE THINGS!?

It's a question I've been asking all week.

Seriously, after the week Victoria has had, with so many people dead, I cannot believe for a second that the people lighting these fires can't comprehend the damage that a fire is capable of doing. I seriously doubt it's just, as one of my neighbours assumed, 'kids messing around'. It's got to be purely malicious intent.

Hopefully no one will get hurt by this blaze, but in order to get it put out quickly, 6 fire trucks have been deployed. That's 6 fire trucks that aren't available to fight the big bush fires that are still burning in other parts of the state. Even if no one is physically hurt by these deliberately lit "small" fires, every single one stretches our already stretched resources even thinner.

The fire around the corner, which has been going for a couple of hours, is now listed as "controlled" - so I'm not too worried about that one, but I have to admit I am nervous about where and when the firebug will strike next. There are so many green (heh, drought stricken brown at the moment) areas around here, that it'd be scarily easy for someone to start a blaze that isn't easily controlled.

Update: (11:30pm) Fire around the corner from my house has now been put out.

Stolen shamelessly from KittyKatty

( 100 foods, most of which I've eaten )

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.

2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.

3) Italicize any items that you would never consider eating.

Toothaches suck hardcore. I think I'm gonna have to go get my lower wisdom teeth pulled soon. :/

Also? Falling asleep by midnight means waking up at 2:30am and being unable to sleep. Apparently my usual 3 hour sleep cycle has downsized to an even more meager 2½ hours. WTF body!? Seriously, I hear that some people get as many as 8 whole hours of uninterrupted sleep, and I marvel.

I'd be okay with the 2½ hours if I was still able to function, but now I'm too awake to sleep, but too fuzzy to do anything. Crazymaking!

ETA: Whoa, IJ got it's original look back again - I guess the change was unpopular with pretty much everyone.
ETA 2: Well, that didn't last long. Pick a scheme already, IJ.

Stolen from skyflowers, ladybug218, & illmantrim

01. Bold what's true.
02. Leave plain what's false.
03. Add one of your own at the end.

( Cut for space & courtesy )

Insomnia kept me wake all night again. I probably should've used the time productively, maybe doing research for the story I recently started working on, but I spent the night faffing around doing SFA.

I guess I should attempt a few hours of sleep.